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Disavowal: Hideo Kojima makes clear he had no involvement with 'Metal Gear Survive'

Hideo Kojima has had a hand in the development of nearly every entry in the Metal Gear Series, and he now wants fans to know, unequivocally, that his time with Snake has indeed some to an end. Despite the recently announced Metal Gear Survive using many of the gameplay mechanics he introduced in The Phantom Pain, he was never involved in the project.

“I know absolutely nothing about it,” Kojima said when asked about Metal Gear Survive by an audience member at the Tokyo Game Show. “That’s because it’s totally unrelated to me, right?”

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Kojima also criticized his former employer Konami for introducing zombies into the series, emphasizing that his creation is “espionage with political fiction” and that there is “no reason” for it to introduce the brain-eating monsters.

A gameplay demonstration for Metal Gear Survive was also released during TGS, and the influence — and assets — it borrows from The Phantom Pain are pretty clear. Though Mother Base’s soldiers are transported to another world through wormholes (they look identical to the ones you can see in The Phantom Pain) the environments look strangely familiar. In fact, sections of the map appear to be almost identical. Perhaps the soldiers are on “Earth 2.”

Though gameplay remains relatively unchanged from Ground Zeroes and The Phantom Pain, players will have to watch out for zombies gnawing at their feet. As one soldier is caught in the grasp of the undead, another stabs at the rotting creature with a spear. His injured leg must that be healed using crafted items, a feature that was absent from the previous game.

Metal Gear Survive arrives to Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and PC next year. Hideo Kojima’s game, Death Stranding, which stars The Walking Dead‘s Norman Reedus, is scheduled to release in 2018.

Gabe Gurwin
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Gabe Gurwin has been playing games since 1997, beginning with the N64 and the Super Nintendo. He began his journalism career…
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